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Strategies for Research Success

Robin Henderson

MY Consultants Ltd

robin@myconsultants.net

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Course Objectives

• Encourage you to think strategically about your research and your career

• Introduce you to a range of strategic thinking tools

• Explore what makes researchers successful and give you tactics for:

– Publications– Networking– Funding– Collaboration

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What do you want to talk about today?

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What is strategy?

• What do you think is meant by the terms – “research strategy”– “funding strategy”– “publication strategy”

• Can you think of individuals who you know who have a clear strategy?

• Can you think of individuals who do not have a clear strategy?

• What are the differences

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Strategy

Now Future

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Create a clear vision of the future

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Personal versus

Institutional Strategies

Societal Challenge Themes

RCUK Interdisciplinary themes

• Digital economy• Energy• Global food security• Global uncertainties: security for all in a

changing world• Living with environmental change• Lifelong health and well being

Features of UK HE Strategies

Research Excellence Selective investment

Building critical mass

Strategic appointments

Impact – Outcomes

Developing specific differences

Internationalisation

Student Experience

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The context - REF

Outputs:guided bycitations in some units of assessment

65% 20%Impact

Environment

15%

http://www.hefce.ac.uk/Research/ref/

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Impact

http://www.epsrc.ac.uk/

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Impact at NewcastleResearch ImpactOur approach:

• We aim to be a globally significant research University that performs high quality research across a wide range of disciplines and locations.

• We conduct our research activities with a resolute commitment to excellence and a concern for the needs of both local society and global issues. This combination of being globally ambitious and regionally rooted underpins Newcastle University’s vision for the future.

• We strive for world-class academic excellence – but excellence with impact - so that our high-quality academic work is responsive to large-scale societal needs and demands.

• This can best be achieved if knowledge creation is matched by innovation in the translation of knowledge into economic, social or cultural advancements. It is this ethos of excellence with impact that underpins our research and innovation portfolio and deeply informs our strategy.

The University actively seeks to take a collaborative approach to research by:

• engaging directly with users of our research

• seeking input from business and society

We believe that engaged research is far more likely to have meaningful outcomes and identifiable impacts.

http://www.ncl.ac.uk/research/impact/

A framework for being strategic

Audit and analysis Benchmarking What are the routes to get where I want to be

– Strategic – Tactical

Breaking the barriers Generating an identifiable Plan

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Benchmarking

• Think about the job which you would like to get next.

• What do you think the CV of the successful applicant looks like?

http://bit.ly/p0xapt

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Opportunity searching

PoliticalEnvironmentalSocialTechnologicalLegalEconomic

What about you?

Strengths Weaknesses

ThreatsOpportunities

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Publication Strategies

• Balance• Volume / Quality• Choice of Journals• Range of Journals• What are your publications saying about you?• Citations

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Bibliometrics are in the REF

What can you do to increase your rate of citation?

http://www.hefce.ac.uk/research/ref/Biblio/

The 80/20 Rule

We have analysed the citations of individual papers in Nature and found that 89% of citations were generated by 25% of the papers.(Nature Vol 534 pp 1003-1004, 2005)

Articles with lower citation impact were more likely to be restricted access (Nature Vol. 411, pp 521, 2001)

Online Publications Traditional routes

e.g. Elsevier and Science Direct

Assess ease of access to worldwide audience

Open access publications

http://www.doaj.org/

Web repositories

e.g. http://arxiv.org

e.g. http://cogprints.org/

Some now tracked in a new citation index

Nova: http://nova.newcastle.edu.au/vital/access/manager/Index

Building the right relationships

• Who do you know?

• What is their power?

• Let’s set aside your supervisor/boss for now

Who’s in the web?

• Godfathers (or mothers)

• Gatekeepers

• Mechanics

• Coaches

• Influencers

• Contributors

Source : Jo Owen “Power at Work”

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Funding Strategies

• Who are the funders?• What are they looking for in research projects?• What are their selection criteria?• How much funding can you achieve?• What is the sustainability of the funding route?• As a PhD student how can I get involved?

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Promoting yourself

80:10:10 Rule

Elevator Pitch

Social Media

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Goal Setting

• Goal• Reality• Options• Will